Broaching machine



Feb. 13,1940. w A. HART BROACHING MACHINE Filed Sept. a, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. m'lliam n: Hari- .5. BY I A TTORNEYS.

Feb. 13, 1940 v w. A. HART 2,189,984

' BROACHING MACHINE Filed Sept. 8, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNE rs.

Patented Feb. 13, 1 940 e UNITED, STATES PATENT. QQFF 1 1. .Selass a v i e e BRoAc HI'NG e William :A. "Hart; 'Detroit,"-Mich.-',' assign'o t Colonial Broach Company, a. corporation of Michigan Application S eptembei s, lllB GQS eriaI no. 99,737

. v I :11 Claims;

My invention relates to broach machines and methods, and particularly to a broaching ma.- chine of the multiple station type which progressively machines a work piece asit is advanced from station to station. I Broaching operationshavebeen utilized here;

tofo-re to machine apertures for receiving bearings or bearing shells by operating on each half of the work piece. The breach was of semicircular form having .a plurality of teeth of progressively increasing size. across the work piece as it was clamped to have the aperture to be machined positioned relative to the path of movement of the broach.

In practicing my present invention, I emp'loy a rotatable table having a plurality of stations thereon, each of which has been constructed to receive and clamp a workpiece. The table is; advanced a predetermined number of degrees at each step and the broach operated in onedi'rec' tion or another at each advancement. The work piece herein to be described is a housing for a universal joint which has four apertures disposed 90 degrees to each other. The housing comprises two castings in which one half of the four aperjtures are disposed. Each casting constitutes a work piece which is mounted on theltable and disposed opposite to a pair of spaced breaches which are moved in unison. The first work piece to be worked upon by the first broach is advanced out of the path of movement of the broachkto permit the 'broach to be returned to initialpio.

sition, after which the work piece isadvanc'e'd to the second broaching stage adjacent'to the: path of movement of the second broach. A second work piece is moved during 'thislas'ti movement into the path of movement of the first. broach. The two broaches are then moved to" machine the first pair of apertures mule second work piece and the second pairof apertures. in the first workpiece. After the broaches have passed completely through the work pieces, the. table is turned to have the work pieces moved; out of the path of movement of thebroaches so that. the broaches may be returned to their initial positions. The table is then advanced to' move additional work pieces adjacent to the broaches and the finished work piece to an unloading position. After a work piece is unloaded The breaches are preferably made round even (though they machine only a semi-circular-apeb The breach was pulled ture. "Bearings arefprovided on thabroach by which they aresecured to ,;a reciprocalsupport. Thefsecuringmeans permits the broachto be removed, turned degrees and ,reclampedin is position to have the .other half of the teeth outwardly presenting ina position to eiiect the broaching "operation. The broach may bemachined. and sharpened. as any circular breach and will have twicethe lifein View of the fact i thatonly one half is employed at a time.

When a plurality of machines are employed,

like fixtures may be mounted on each individual machine to receive and support one half: of the universal joint housing. Whena single machine isutilized, half of the clampingfixtures support oneportion of the housingrwhile the other half support the other portion.

v Accordingly, the main objects-.of myinven tion are to' 'providea breaching machineior breaching work pieces in' a progressive. manner;

toprov idea machine for b roaching an aperture in the face" of lonework piece whilefa second broach is broaching an aperture in a work piece at an Iangleft'o the. aperture initially broached therein by the first said broach; to providea machine for broachin'gj and finishing apertures in work pieces through the, progressive movement of the piecesfinto and frointhe path of move: mentof th'ebroacl ies'; to pass a pairof breaches acrossadjacent workpieces and after said pas-y sage; to advance'the' Work pieces out of the path of movement of the broaches to) permit the. broaches to be returned toltheir initial positions; to provide loading and unloading stations on the machine to permit the insertion and removal of work "pieces during the, broaching operations;

and, in" general, to provide a machine for broach ing work pieces,which islpositive moperaeon,

. simple in construction, and economical of mantl Other/objects and features of novelty of invention, will befeither specifically pointedlout or will become apparent 'when referring, for a. better understanding of. my invention, (to the,

following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying dravdngs, wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan viewof a broaching machine embodying features of my invention;

Figure 2- is a view rs elevation, with parts" broken away; of the machine illustrated in Fig:'

' Figure 3 is an enlarged broken viewof struc-" ture illustrated "in Figure 1,; taken, on the line Figured-is an enlarged sectional viewof'strucl ture illustrated in Figure 1, taken on the line 4-4 thereof;

Figure is an enlarged broken view of structure illustrated in Figure 1 as viewed from the lines 5-5 thereof, and

Figure 6 is an enlarged view, partly in section, of a portion of the structure illustrated in Figure 2.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2,- the machine In embodies a base ll supporting a head l2 for movement in reciprocation. The head is driven by a piston rod l3 which operated in a cylinder l4 mounted on one end of a housingml5. The piston in the cylinder is connected to the rod l3 and through the control of the passage of oil into.

either end of the cylinder, the head, I2 is reciprocated. The head is supported in the housing l5 on suitable ways in a mannerwell known in the art. The head has slides 16 mounted on each of its ends which have an extendingporr tion I! on which a broach I8 is secured. A table I9 is mounted for reciprocation on an arcuate projection 2| of the base H. The table isherein illustrated as being provided with four clamping fixtures 22 for receiving and clamping the work piece. The projecting portion of the base 2|v is provided with work receiving troughs 23 in which'the work before and after the broaching operation may be-disposed. A locating head 24 is mounted adjacent to the loading position to accurately postion the work piece in the fixture before it is clamped therein. A cylinder 25 operates slides 26 which are provided with projecting ends 2'1 which engage the roughed out'aper tures in the work piece. has been so loaded, the handle 28 of the fixture is operated to tightly clamp the work in position.

In Figure 3 I have illustrated a fixture 22 as embodying a. head 29 and a plunger 31, which plunger is actuated by the handle 28. The head carries a plate 32 which is resiliently mounted by springs 33 and provided with outer truncated spherical surface 24 which engages a similar surface on the interior of the work piece 35. The

work piece herein illustrated is one half "of a universal joint housing which has apertures extending therethrough at rightangles to each other. The fixture herein illustrated is that for operating on the one half portion of the housing having a long shank 36. A similar fixture is i1 lustratedin Fig. 5 in which an adapter 31' 'is employed to extend the length of the plunger -3| to operate on and clamp a work piece 38 which is similar to the work piece 35 with the exception that the extension 36 is omitted therefrom. It is to be understood that the adapter may be omitted and the plunger 3| lengthened or the height of the fixtures decreased.

In Figure 4, I have illustrated the clamped position of the plate 32 and the work element 36. Before the work piece is clamped in. the

fixture, the cylinder'25 is energized. ;This'occurs when a control lever 4|, illustrated inFigure 1, is operated to produce the movement of the broaches through a cutting cycle. The flow of fluid in the cylinder 25 causes the slides 26 to move downwardly to have their ends engage the roughed out apertures 42 in the work piece. This accurately aligns the work piece in the fixture and the handle maythen be moved to cause the plunger 3| to move upwardly to clamp the work piece in position. The head 29 of the fixture has track portions 43 and 44 therein-which cross at right angles and which provide guide-.5.

ways upon which the broaches-aremovable. I At After the work piece indicated by numeral 48.

either side of the fixture when at a broaching station track portions 45 are provided aligned with the portions 43 and 44 and in engagement with shoulders 46 provided on the extending portion I! of the slide I6.

In operation a work piece is placed in the clamping fixture 22 and the operating handle 4| is actuated to cause the broaches to be actuated through a broaching operation to a position on the right-hand side of the machine as viewed in Figure 1. At the same time the cylinder 25 is actuated to cause the slide 26 to move downwardly toposition the work in the fixture,

in which position it is clamped through the operation of the handle 28. The handle 41 is then operated to retrieve the plunger in the cylinder 25 and to actuate means (not shown) to cause the table to be turned 45 degrees. This moves thefixtures from the path of movement of the broaches. which may then be returned to their initial position illustrated in Figure 1. Thereafter, the table is rotated another 45 degrees to advance the fixture with a new work piece into a position to be machined in the path of movement of the first broach. Such advancement moves the fixture with a new work piece under the clamping head where a plunger 26 moves downwardly to position the work piece while the broaches are moved through the cutting portion of their cycle of movement. Thereafter, the table is turned 45 to move the fixtures out of the path of the broaches which are then returned to initial position, that illustrated-in the drawings.

In this manner, progressive broaching operations are accomplished, the one broach operating when the work piece is at one station for accurately machining one aperture, and due to the turning of the table to advance the work piece into the path of movement of the second broach, the said machined aperture will be disposed at 90 to such path. The next movement of the broaches will machine the second aperture at 90 to the one machined by the first said broach. It is to be understood that at the end of each broaching operation the table is moved to move the fixtures out of the path of movement of the broaches so that they may be returned to initial position before the table is again turned .45 to advance the fixtures relative to such paths of movement.

The loading andv unloading station has been indicated by numeral 49 in Figure 1, while the work positioning and clamping station has been Numeral 5! indicates the station at which the second aperture is broached while numeral 52 indicates the station at which the first aperture is machined.

. Operating handles 4| and 41 are illustrated for controlling the operations. Upon initial movement. of the handle 4!, the broaches H! are advanced across the work pieces and fluid is delivered to the cylinder 25, which causes the plunger 26 to position the work piece. At the endof the stroke, after the broaches have advanced through the work pieces, a valve or other means is operated to stop the advancement of theram l4 and retract the plunger 26. Thereafter the operating handle 41 is actuated to advance the table 45 which advancement operates control means to retract the ram [4 and the broaches to the initial position.

It is to be understood that the operation may be entirely automatic whereby upon the starting of themachine the table will rotate through 45 stages andthebroaches will reciprocate in syntures on said table for supporting and clamping chrenism with theoperation' of the table so that it only necessary'to remove and'inserjtfwork pieces at station and to clamp the workpiece at' the station 48 to produce the machine operations. Such a control means are well within the knowledge of one skilled in the art and are not shown in detail. j I I During the breaching operation the breach is accurately supported relative to the fixture by the guides t3 and 44 which engage the support I1 and accurately positions the breach relativejt'e the work piece. The breach support is provided with cutout portions 53 1 at the rear. of the breaches to permit the movement of the fixtures 22 out of the path of movement of the breaches after acutting operation when the table is retated 45.

In Figure 6, I have illustrated the breach l8 as being provided with hearing portions 54 and 55 between which a plurality of teeth 56 of conventional form are provided. The breach is circular in form and is supported to have only one side of the teeth available to machine an aperture, thus doubling the life of the .broach. The

bearings 54 and 55 are provided with apertures 51 which are shouldered ateach end at 58 to receive the heads 59 of screws 6| which secure the breach to the support i7. When the teeth have become dulled through use, it is only necessary to remove the screws and re-insert them in the apertures from the opposite side and secure the breach 'to the support I l to present the opposite sides of the teeth to the work. In this manner, the life of the breach is doubled and the construction of the breach is cheapened, since the circular type of breach is easily manufactured. After the oppothe accompanying claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A breaching machine including, in combination, a base, a rotatable table on said base, fixtures on said table for supporting and clamping work pieces, a reciprocable element on said base, a pair of breaches operated by said element, means for advancing two fixturesinto the paths of movement of said breaches, means foradvancing said breaches through the work pieces on the two fixtures in the paths thereof, and means thereafter for advancing said work pieces out of said path to permit the return of the breaches to their initial positions, said advancement moving one of the fixtures toward the path of one of the breaches. i

2. A breaching machine including, in combina tion, a base, a rotatable table on said base, fixtures on said table for supporting and clamping work pieces, a reciprecable element on said base, a pair of breaches operated by said element, and means for supporting said breaches below the tops of said elements and fixtures, leaving the front and rear ends free to provide clearance for the movement of the fixtures to and from the breaches paths at either end of the breaches.

3. A breaching machine including, in combination, a base, a rotatable table on said base, fixwork-piecesta reciprocable element on said base, apair of breaches operated through a cutting stroke by said element during one half cycle of movement, and guides on said fixtures engaged by said element during a breaching operation for accurately positioning the breach relative thereto and to the workpieces.

f1; Abroaching machine including, in combination, a base, a rotatable table, on said base, fixtures on said, table for supporting and clamping work pieces, a reciprocable element on said base, a' pair of breaches operated through a'cutting stroke by said element during. one half cycle of movement, means for positioning the work elementsrelative to the fixtures before the clamping thereof, and'guide means on said fixtures engageable by said element for relatively positioning said breaches and work pieces during the breaching operations. v

5. A breaching machine for machining grooves in a work piece including, in combination, a base, a rotatable table on said base, fixtures on said tablefor supporting and clampingwork pieces, a reciprocable element on said base, a pair of breaches operated by said element, means for advancing said table in uniform steps to move the fixtures laterally across the paths of the breaches, means for advancing the breaches through a cutting operation after one step which moves the fixtures into the breaching paths, and means for retrieving the breaches after the subsequent step of moving the fixtures from said paths.

6. A breaching machine including, in combination, a base, a rotatable table on said base, fixtures on said table for supporting and clamping work pieces, a reciprocable element on said base,

a pair of breaches carried by said element one in advance of the other, a device for positioning and clamping the work pieces relative to said fixtures, means for advancing said breaches through a cutting operation for machining two work pieces while a third is being positioned in a fixture by said device, means for moving said fixtures out of the broaches paths of movement and away from said device, said advancing means retrieving said breaches thereafter, and means for moving fixtures into the breaches paths and adjacent to said device.

'7. A breaching machine including, in combination, a base, a rotatable table on said base, a fixture on said table for supporting and clamping a work piece, a reciprocable element on said base, a pair of breaches operated by said element, guide means carried by said element, and means on said fixture engageable by said guide means for relatively positioning said breach and work piece during a breaching operation.

8. A breaching machine including, in combination, a base, a rotatable table on said base, a fixture on said table for supporting and clamping a work piece, an element on said base positioned below the top of said fixture, a breach carried by said element mounted below the top of said fixture, and a recess provided in said element to permit the fixture to pass across the path of the breach at either of its ends.

9. A breaching machine including, in combination, a base, a rotatable table on said base, a fixture on said table for supporting and clamping a work piece, an element on said base, positioned below the top of said fixture, a breach carried by said element mounted below the top of said fixture, a recess provided in said element to permit the fixture to pass across the path of the breach "a'isaes i at either of its ends, and guide means on said I fixture engageable by said element for positioning the fixture relative thereto during a breach ing operation. 7,

10. A breaching machine including, in combination, a base, a rotatable table on said base, four fixtures disposed adjacent to the periphery of the table ninety degrees from each other, a pair of breaches, one having a path of movement on the diameter of the table, the other On a cord thereof, supports for said breaches, means for simultaneously moving said breaches and supports in said paths by a common moving means With one breach disposed in advance of the other for progressively machining workpieces as they are advanced to the paths of the breaches.

11. A breaching machine including, in combinatien, a base, a rotatable table on said base, four fixtures disposed adjacent to the periphery of the table ninety degrees from each other, a pair-0f breaches, one having a path of movement on the diameter of the table, the other on a cord thereof, supports for said breaches, means for simultaneously moving said breaches and supports in said paths by a common moving means with one breach disposed in advance of the other for pregressively machining workpieces as they are advanced to the paths of the breaches, the supports for said breaches being so constructed as to permit the fixtures to pass across the paths of the breaches at either of their ends.

WILLIAM A. HART. 

